Yes, Wes graduated. I am very proud of him!!! He is truly not the same young man that entered my office 8 months ago.
I went to his graduation, which is a good half hour away. I was late and ended up getting locked out of the auditorium. I hung around for about a half hour and then thought "he will just have to forgive me." I think he did.
It is a little weird not having him around all the time, but we are trying to arrange a meeting time every week in which we can discuss and solve all the problems of the world.. at least from our perspective.
Good job Wes!
Friday, June 01, 2007
A time for everything...
I haven't been blogging as much lately. Mainly because most of my thoughts are going into my private journal and the stuff going on in my head wasn't for public consumption.
Here is what I want to say...
It is time for me now to move on.
Yes, after spending the last 23 years of my life working with high school students, it in now time for the sun to set on that part of my career (I started working at Son City playing in the band in October of 1985, first song I played was "Never" by Heart). I am a little saddened to be leaving the student ministry at Calvary but very excited about what I am going to do next. I am not leaving Muscatine or Calvary, just slowly transitioning to another position in the church.
Here is the email I sent out to many on my team yesterday:
This email is also to inform you of some impending transitions in our ministry coming in the near future. The church (Calvary) and I have been talking for a while about the next phase of my ministry life and what exactly that means. I guess what I am getting at is that we are going to start the process of phasing me out as the high school pastor at Calvary. This is a decision that has been made by both the church and myself which brings sadness and excitement for my life and hopefully the life of Nexus. Calvary has asked me to take the lead at our “3rd base” position in the church, helping people get involved in ministry. I think all of you know how much I love helping people get involved in ministry, so this seems like a perfect fit. This transition will not happen overnight, so for the time being you probably won’t notice anything different, however, subtle differences will probably be noticed in the amount of time I spend with Nexus. I am anticipating being involved with Nexus for at least the 2007-8 school year, but beyond that, I think it is unlikely that I will be directly involved. Understand that I will probably always be aware in some way of what goes on in Student Ministry, just not at the level I am now.
I know this may be creating some questions for you like: who will the next high school pastor be? Is Ernie going to step in? Will Scott now grow his hair out? Unfortunately, these are questions that have been asked but not answered. I am not keeping you in the dark, we (church management team) just haven’t discussed these issues at any length. I will keep you informed as everything transpires.
If you have any questions, please ask ME. No speculations need to happen as this is a natural part of ministry life. Like I said, I doubt you will notice any difference initially. We will have a great time together at Xcursion (hint, hint) and spending our summer together, planning on getting back into the swing of our fall schedules. After that.. who knows.
Again, if you have questions, please ask. This is not confidential information.
This has been brewing for some time and people would like to have some solid reasons why. Here are a few:
Here is what I want to say...
It is time for me now to move on.
Yes, after spending the last 23 years of my life working with high school students, it in now time for the sun to set on that part of my career (I started working at Son City
Here is the email I sent out to many on my team yesterday:
This email is also to inform you of some impending transitions in our ministry coming in the near future. The church (Calvary) and I have been talking for a while about the next phase of my ministry life and what exactly that means. I guess what I am getting at is that we are going to start the process of phasing me out as the high school pastor at Calvary. This is a decision that has been made by both the church and myself which brings sadness and excitement for my life and hopefully the life of Nexus. Calvary has asked me to take the lead at our “3rd base” position in the church, helping people get involved in ministry. I think all of you know how much I love helping people get involved in ministry, so this seems like a perfect fit. This transition will not happen overnight, so for the time being you probably won’t notice anything different, however, subtle differences will probably be noticed in the amount of time I spend with Nexus. I am anticipating being involved with Nexus for at least the 2007-8 school year, but beyond that, I think it is unlikely that I will be directly involved. Understand that I will probably always be aware in some way of what goes on in Student Ministry, just not at the level I am now.
I know this may be creating some questions for you like: who will the next high school pastor be? Is Ernie going to step in? Will Scott now grow his hair out? Unfortunately, these are questions that have been asked but not answered. I am not keeping you in the dark, we (church management team) just haven’t discussed these issues at any length. I will keep you informed as everything transpires.
If you have any questions, please ask ME. No speculations need to happen as this is a natural part of ministry life. Like I said, I doubt you will notice any difference initially. We will have a great time together at Xcursion (hint, hint) and spending our summer together, planning on getting back into the swing of our fall schedules. After that.. who knows.
Again, if you have questions, please ask. This is not confidential information.
This has been brewing for some time and people would like to have some solid reasons why. Here are a few:
- I am going to be 42 years old in September. (nuff said)
- I have spent considerable time developing strategies for ministry in my head. The strategy we use at Calvary is something I heavily developed (and as a staff we refined), I want to expand my capabilities to the whole church and not keep them just in student ministries. In other words, I don't want to be defined as just a Youth Pastor (and I know I am not, but it is time to move on...)
- My kids. As they get older, their extracurricular schedule begins to conflict with the schedule of my high schooler's. Given the choice between my daughters band concert and a high school baseball game, I will choose the concert. In some ways I don't think that is fair to my high school students.
- My kids, part II. I never wanted to be my kids youth pastor. Sadie loves me being the youth pastor because of the special privilege she gets. However when I broke the news to her, I reminded her that her friends at times complain about how ministry is. I told her that I didn't want to put her in a position where it is her dad they are complaining about. I don't know if her and Emma's heart could take it.
- Its time.
Now this isn't a conclusive list, but simply things I have been mulling over for a few years (yes years) now. I look forward to this coming year and the ways in which God will use me to help more people get involved in ministry. I love seeing people find their potential by building into the kingdom and connecting others with God.
Now is the time....
Monday, March 26, 2007
Wes had a date...
Wes was in my office recently and told me he was interested in asking a girl out. My reply to him was "why??? I thought you didn't like people." He sort of chuckled and continued to tell me the person and the plans. He wanted to go bowling and out for food. The girl he intended to ask out works with him, so he does know her, which is a good thing.
I gave him a date to shoot for to ask her out and said that I would call the following day and ask him if he did it. Well instead of calling, I went in to where he worked and asked him if he asked her out. He told me that it didn't work out. My reply to Wes at this point was that if he didn't ask her out in the next hour, I would find her and ask her out for him. He looked at me and said "I know you aren't kidding!"
So... He asked her out she said yes and the plans were made. The problem is that 4 days before the date, Wes totalled his car. Fortunately it was a group date so there were others that would drive.
The date went well according to Wes (it was a couple of weeks ago). I asked him what was the best part of the date and he replied with "feeling like I was a normal high school kid."
How far he has come... 6 months ago he would not have wanted to even be thought of as a normal high school kid. Now he like the feeling it has.
I gave him a date to shoot for to ask her out and said that I would call the following day and ask him if he did it. Well instead of calling, I went in to where he worked and asked him if he asked her out. He told me that it didn't work out. My reply to Wes at this point was that if he didn't ask her out in the next hour, I would find her and ask her out for him. He looked at me and said "I know you aren't kidding!"
So... He asked her out she said yes and the plans were made. The problem is that 4 days before the date, Wes totalled his car. Fortunately it was a group date so there were others that would drive.
The date went well according to Wes (it was a couple of weeks ago). I asked him what was the best part of the date and he replied with "feeling like I was a normal high school kid."
How far he has come... 6 months ago he would not have wanted to even be thought of as a normal high school kid. Now he like the feeling it has.
Mom's complaining...
My mom is complaining that I haven't written much in a while, so I better.
My two kids both had birthdays this month. Emma turned nine and Sadie turned twelve.
For Emma, birthdays are a huge deal... HUGE. She can barely stand it and we have to let her open at least one present before school if we are to have any peace during the day. Soooo she opened a present and got a pair of heely's for her birthday. She was so excited to have shoes you can roller skate in. But the best part of her birthday was at night singing to her. You see, we had small group and at our small group we celebrated Emma's birthday for our desert time. Everyone in our group gathered around Emma, singing happy birthday while yours truly held the "Dairy Queen Ice Cream cake" in front of her. She blew out the candle and within a blink of an eye.... you guessed it.... I lost balance of the cake, it slid of the plate and fell on the floor. Emma's glee turned south instantly. Everyone was trying not to laugh because Emma has an idiot for a dad, but they all held it together. It took a lot of talking on my part to get Emma to forgive me.
The only saving grace in all of this is that the cake was still frozen enough that it didn't fall apart at all. It just got a little smashed on one side. Yes... it was delicious and everything worked out.
Sadie. Well for her Birthday we took her to see the "Phantom of the Opera" in Des Moines in early February. I think it was one of the best showings I have seen. The only problem is that about 15 minutes before the play ended I heard a ruckus in the row behind me. I looked back just in time to see some guy stand up and vomit about five seats away. He scurried down the row and did it again. Rene' leaned over to me and said "that is a first," which means a lot coming from a woman that has been in a lot of theater. Fortunately, Sadie's eyes never left the stage and she barely know what was going on. Yes, she LOVES phantom. She has seen every youtube clip and everything. If you want to see something funny, watch the Will Ferrell clip on youtube of him sining "music of the night" it is really funny.
My two kids both had birthdays this month. Emma turned nine and Sadie turned twelve.
For Emma, birthdays are a huge deal... HUGE. She can barely stand it and we have to let her open at least one present before school if we are to have any peace during the day. Soooo she opened a present and got a pair of heely's for her birthday. She was so excited to have shoes you can roller skate in. But the best part of her birthday was at night singing to her. You see, we had small group and at our small group we celebrated Emma's birthday for our desert time. Everyone in our group gathered around Emma, singing happy birthday while yours truly held the "Dairy Queen Ice Cream cake" in front of her. She blew out the candle and within a blink of an eye.... you guessed it.... I lost balance of the cake, it slid of the plate and fell on the floor. Emma's glee turned south instantly. Everyone was trying not to laugh because Emma has an idiot for a dad, but they all held it together. It took a lot of talking on my part to get Emma to forgive me.
The only saving grace in all of this is that the cake was still frozen enough that it didn't fall apart at all. It just got a little smashed on one side. Yes... it was delicious and everything worked out.
Sadie. Well for her Birthday we took her to see the "Phantom of the Opera" in Des Moines in early February. I think it was one of the best showings I have seen. The only problem is that about 15 minutes before the play ended I heard a ruckus in the row behind me. I looked back just in time to see some guy stand up and vomit about five seats away. He scurried down the row and did it again. Rene' leaned over to me and said "that is a first," which means a lot coming from a woman that has been in a lot of theater. Fortunately, Sadie's eyes never left the stage and she barely know what was going on. Yes, she LOVES phantom. She has seen every youtube clip and everything. If you want to see something funny, watch the Will Ferrell clip on youtube of him sining "music of the night" it is really funny.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Long Time
I can't believe that it has been this long since I last wrote in my blog... Basically, I don't think I have that exciting of a life, but I know that my mom likes to read about it. Mom's will always be moms....
I will write more in the next few days and speak:
My recent house remodel
My recent trip to Guatemala
Wes' happenings
and whatever else may come to my head (which shouldn't be much)
I will write more in the next few days and speak:
My recent house remodel
My recent trip to Guatemala
Wes' happenings
and whatever else may come to my head (which shouldn't be much)
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